Results tagged “911”

NJ State Police released 911 tapes between murdered Chatham, NJ pastor Father Ed Hinds and a 911 dispatcher. Hinds, who was allegedly killed by the church's janitor Jose Feliciano, called 911 from his cellphone; he managed to give his address, but the phone disconnected before the dispatcher could confirm the location. So the dispatcher called back, and on the second attempt, Feliciano answered. The dispatcher asked, "Sir, this is the State Police. You called 911. Do you have an emergency?" and Feliciano responded, "No, we don't. Thank you"—but Hinds' voice is "barely be heard [in the background] saying, 'Yes we do [have an emergency].'''

Coming on the heels of yesterday's report on the questionable conditions and lack of legal access in a little known immigrant jail in the West Village, the federal government has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle the cases of five Muslim immigrants were among hundreds of noncitizens jailed in Brooklyn for months after 9/11 without charges. According to the Times, the plaintiffs — whose names were cleared but were still deported — accepted the payout after seven years of court cases. A larger suit filed by other detainees is ongoing.

In what must be the least surprising news item of the day, the law firm that was planning on hiring Brian Schroeder — the 26-year-old Harvard Law School grad suspected of setting a fire in a chapel containing the remains of unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — has revoked its offer. The firm Sidley Austin recanted on its decision to hire Schroeder, who turned himself in to police after setting a blaze on Saturday morning that destroyed flowers, photos, and other mementos inside Memorial Park on the corner of First Avenue and East 30th Street. According to cops, he set the fire on a drunk dare, but Schroeder's attorney claims the Texas native, who moved to New York to accept the law job, had been drugged.

     

After being greeted by a 21-gun salute, the warship built from World Trade Center steel USS New York is back home. A New Yorker who knows the harbor better than anyone else, not to mention the pain of Sept. 11, guided it into the city. Harbor pilot Neil Keating, whose firefighter brother Paul was killed on Sept. 11, pulled the warship into place this morning. He told the Post, "It's fitting that 7.5 tons of Twin Towers steel were used to make the bow, because that's where the ship takes a pounding and keeps trudging forward through roughs seas. We're like ambassadors when we go on board."

The Harvard Law School grad suspected of setting a fire inside a memorial for unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks claims he was drugged before he torched the shrine. A lawyer representing 26-year-old Brian Schroeder said someone might have "put something in his drink" before the 26-year-old Ivy Leaguer — who moved to New York to accept a job at a law firm — set a blaze that destroyed flowers, notes, photos, and other mementos inside Memorial Park at First Avenue and East 30th Street. In fact, the attorney claims that Schroeder didn't realize he was setting a fire in a 9/11 memorial, "although police sources said he made sure to gather many of the teddy bears left by victims' families to start the fire," according to the Post.

Heads up—Notify NYC reminds us, "There will be a 21-gun salute [today] 11/2/09 at approximately 8 AM from the deck of the USS New York. The ship will be in the Hudson River near the World Trade Center Site in Manhattan. Expect repetitive loud noises." The ship, which is made from steel from the World Trade Center, is in New York City for her commissioning this Saturday; as for today's festivities, here's what the Navy says:

Acting on a dare, a drunk Harvard Law School grad allegedly set fire to a chapel yesterday that houses the remains of unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The perp — identified as 26-year-old Brian Schroeder — broke into Memorial Park near the corner of First Avenue and East 30th Street and set the blaze at around 9 am. The fire did not get to the remains, which are kept in climate-controlled containers awaiting advances in DNA technology that might allow them to be identified, but notes, photos, flowers, and other mementos inside the white-tented sanctuary were either stolen or burned. Schroeder turned himself in to police last night.

One of the confessed masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks, along with four other killers, may be flown from Guantanamo Bay to face death penalty trials in the Big Apple. Yes, we're talking about ex-Al Qaeda "military commander" Khalid Shaikh Mohammed—who admitted last year to being a terrorist "to the bone", said he wished to be a martyr and even played critic to a courtroom sketch artist's drawing of him.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke about the man the federal authorities believe was planning a terrorist attack—and Newsday reports that Kelly confirmed that the plot was apparently focused on the Big Apple, "We believe the target was most likely here in New York City."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed the alleged terror plot involving suspect Najibullah Zazi, the former Queens/current Denver resident, and others. Holder said it was "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our country since Sept. 11, 2001... This wasn't merely an 'aspirational' plot with no chance of success. This plot was very serious and, had it not been disrupted, it could have resulted in the loss of American lives."

A beloved member of the NYPD passed away: Taz, a 90-pound German shepherd who was the last of the active K-9 dogs who helped search the World Trade Center site after the September 11 attacks, died from cardiac arrest on Sunday. He was nine years old.

It's arguably one of the most beloved ways the city remembers the September 11, 2001 attacks—the Tribute in Light, which has beacons of light shimmer from lower Manhattan into the sky starting at dusk on September 11 and fading away at dawn on September 12. But the funding for the installation has run out!

Najibullah Zazi, the former Queens (current Denver) resident accused of plotting to bomb New York, was flown from Denver to face charges at Eastern District Court in Brooklyn. Yesterday, assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Neff said there was a "chilling, disturbing sequence of events that suggest the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11 for the purposes of using such an item...The defendant was in the throes of making a bomb and attempting to perfect his formulation." The U.S. Marshals' plane landed in Teterboro, NJ, where the NYPD picked Zazi and flew him by helicopter to Brooklyn, where he was placed in Sunset Park's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Federal prosecutors are now suggesting that the beauty-supply bomb plot in which Najibullah Zazi has been implicated was supposed to take place on September 11, 2009. Federal attorney Tim Neff said in court today there was "a chilling, disturbing sequence of events that suggest the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11 for the purposes of using such an item.” Zazi rented a car in Denver and drove to New York September 9-10.

Aww: A six-year-old Brooklyn girl called 911 when her mother had a seizure in the middle of the night. Little Ciara Rogers told WCBS 2, "There was nobody else - she was on the floor, and [little brother] Luis was crying in the crib, and I was crying so much that my head was hurting. I took a deep breath and I called 9-1-1."

After finding himself starved for conversation, a Suffolk County man went on to make nearly 300 fake 911 calls, ranging from claims of car accidents to murders. The perp used a falsetto voice and pretended to be a woman— and more than once he identified himself as THE Christopher Columbus.

Threatening to kill people like President Obama and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly isn't what made Crank Yankers a hit. On Sunday afternoon, police arrested 18-year-old Bronx teen Jonathan Avalos for calling 911 five times that morning and making the threats. Police sources tell the Daily News he's undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, because standing outside an Obama event with a gun is one thing, but crank calls will not be tolerated.

              

"I've got a song for those people hiding in the caves," Jay-Z laughed before launching into "99 Problems." A solemn 9/11 benefit this was not. But perhaps it's time to let ourselves celebrate, and at his Answer The Call benefit at Madison Square Garden last night, Jay-Z was all about celebration. He struck the perfect balance between giving respect for all those who gave their lives at Ground Zero, and honoring a city that couldn't be torn down.

           

On this rainy day, survivors and relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks were able to descend to the construction site where the Twin Towers once stood. In the memorial ceremony at Zuccotti Park, relatives and volunteers read names of the 2,752 victims at the memorial ceremony while politicians, such as Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, former Mayor Giuliani, and former Governor Pataki, spoke (videos after the jump). NBC New York reports that one father, Vladimir Boyarsky, whose son, Gennady Boyarsky, died, said, "We miss you; life will never be the same without you. This is not the rain. This is the tears."

Sarah Bunting is one of the many people who have put their September 11th stories online, and on the 8th anniversary she adds a little update to hers. First of all, she is looking for Don; she explains, "Don is a man I met on September 11, 2001. Don and I became 'disaster buddies,' and ever since, I've wanted to thank him for hanging out with me and helping me keep it together—but I haven't seen or heard from him since we parted ways late that morning." It was Don's birthday that morning (happy birthday, Don!) and he had just come in from Jersey City. Sarah says they "met in the lobby of the Bank of New York building, located roughly at Wall Street and Broadway. We left the bank together at approximately 11 that morning." She describes him as an "African-American man ... between 25 and 35 on that day. That means he's 30-ish to 40 now ... between 5'9" and 6' tall, and probably weighed 160-180 pounds. [He] is everything good and friendly about the world." Aw, so the search is still on after all these years, and she asks everyone to "do me a favor: pass it on. FB it, tweet it, whatever you got ... we gotta find this dude." Someone make a police sketch! And isn't it so strange to think about how there wasn't Twitter back then?

Animal's Bucky Turco has talked about his 9/11 story before, and today he's also posted video to go along with it. He recalls, "it was 8:45 p.m. or so, the night of 9/11, and Diane Sawyer taps me on the shoulder. I’m standing in front of Pace University, and I guess she saw the shitty camcorder I’m holding. Diane asks me to join her film crew; there’s evidently a 'media blackout' around Ground Zero, and they need some guerrilla camera work. They give me a paper towel roll to conceal the camera, and I tuck it under my arm and basically shoot from the hip." She tells her unofficial cameraman: “Do your best. I’m walking away to distract attention from you. Just keep shooting everything you can shoot.”

The Daily News has an exclusive op-ed from President Barack Obama on remembering the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The full op-ed is here, but here's an excerpt:

Eight years ago, on an ordinary Tuesday morning, nearly 3,000 lives were lost in the deadliest attack on American soil in our history.

Continue reading "President Obama Remembers September 11 Attacks"

Tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. And, the Port Authority tells us, there has been "major progress" at the site of the future National September 11 Memorial & Museum—apparently relatives of victims will be able to walk on the street-level plaza for the first time. Other stats: About 80% of the Memorial's steel (equivalent of 6,500 tons) has been installed, 20% of the concrete has been poured, and the Last Column was installed.

From the past few nights, the Tribute in Light has been lighting up the lower Manhattan sky for testing. According to the city, the testing will continue through tonight, "On Sept. 11, the lights will be turned on at 6:00 pm and remain on until 8:00 am on the morning of Sept. 12. The lights will point straight up and will remain static." The installation is set up on top of a parking garage on West and Edgar Streets, but can be seen from downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn and NJ.

This Friday Grizzly Bear fan Jay-Z is performing at the 9/11 charity concert at Madison Square Garden, but as expected, the scalpers are harshing the vibe. The Daily News reports that the rapper slammed the scalpers himself after the reasonably priced tickets (starting at $54.50) were being jacked up and sold online. He released a statement saying, "We are truly disheartened that certain individuals would choose to benefit from what is meant to be a 100% charitable event. We do not support any profits made from reselling any ticket that was meant to be purchased by honest fans." The proceeds go to widows and orphans of New York City cops and firefighters who died in the line of duty, which makes it's particularly disheartening to see tickets being sold for up to $45,000 (!) online. At this rate, scalpers will see more money than those who the event was meant to benefit. While not much can be done, Jay-Z has reportedly taken steps to "head off ticket brokers." Meanwhile, fans who missed out can watch the show broadcast live on Fuse... or as one fan suggested as an alternative form of entertainment, "go down there Friday and see who is getting these tickets."

The One Club, who awarded DDB Brazil a merit award for their September-11th-tastic ad for the WWF, has revoked that award and declared no more fake ads will be tolerated! Take that evildoers. Meanwhile, Jenny 8. Lee has penned a breathless piece over at CityRoom regarding these so-called fake/phantom/scam ads. She points out that the ads are created solely to win awards (an ad world prestige)—in the words of DDB Brazil's president Sergio Valente, upon winning one such award, "you show everybody, ‘Look how good, how clever I am; how at the top of the trend I am,’ and, of course, everybody wants that." Will the Mad Men of the world soon be scared to push the limits?

As the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) investigates how on earth a print ad and a commercial recreating 9/11 (with more planes) got through any stage of the approval process, AnimalNY points to a new ad that's just as tasteless. They report that another Omnicom agency (BBDO Moscow) created a "digital papercraft Twin Towers project for the Moscow News ... a free weekly English language paper founded in 1930 by American socialist Anna Louise Strong." C'mon Russia, it's not like we're over here hocking Diet Coke with some imagery of Moscow burning in 1812 (no matter how refreshing a cola would have been after Napoleon's invasion).

Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani was on Meet the Press this morning and host David Gregory asked him whether he'll run for governor of New York. While all signs (so far) point to yes, Giuliani demurred and said that there was ab important political season up ahead, what with the NYC mayoral election and then gubernatorial elections in NJ and Virginia. Gregory said, "So a November decision?" to which Giuliani replied, "Something like that."

Last night, you may have seen the Tribute in Light beams. The September 11 light installation, which involves 88 separate lights, was being tested ahead of its official annual lighting next week. We're checking to see if the location is the same as last year (West and Morris Streets), but they are visible throughout lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. On Friday, September 11, the lights will on at sunset and will "fade away" at dawn on September 12. The Tribute in Light was designed by artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio, architect Richard Nash Gould, and lighting designer Paul Marantz and produced by the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time—it was first seen in March 2002 for a month and then became part of the September 11 anniversary fabric. In 2002, Bonevardi wrote about project, "We're not reconstructing the towers in their original size, but the distance between the two squares of light is the same as the distance between the actual towers. So in effect, we're not rebuilding the towers themselves, but the void between them."

The hubbub over White House environmental official Van Jones continues to simmer, with Glenn Beck and other conservatives demanding that Jones, a green jobs innovator, step down. Jones' past, notably signing a petition claiming that 9/11 was an inside job (though two people who signed the petition, including Howard Zinn, say they were misled into signing it) and calling Republican assholes in a video, has required him to deny support for "9/11 truther" views and apologize for other past statements. When asked about the 9/11 truther petition, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "It's not something that the president agrees with." Well, that's a relief! Still, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) wants Jones to resign, "Given recent revelations concerning the associations and statements of the president's green jobs czar, Van Jones should resign his position and if he is unwilling to do so, the president should demand his resignation. His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this Administration or the public debate," and complains that people in "czar" positions aren't vetted by Congress.